Scurvy is known to be one of the most gruesome pathological phenomena that, in the course of centuries, has made innumerable victims. Long distance seafaring operations, war zones, prisons and crop failures all created breeding grounds for the vitamin C deficiency disease, which was commonly characterized by swelling and bleeding gums and internal haemorraghes in the limbs. While the history of scurvy is rather well-known from a Western perspective, the higher proclivity of Asian peoples to scurvy, in comparison to Europeans, Polynesians and other peoples, as proven in recent biochemical studies, compells historians to broaden that horizon and look for scurvy in China and beyond. The purpose of this book is to trace the history of the disea